Lady Pride of England
This weekend we had a few days away to play with our friend's Burrell Showmans engine, the idea was that we would help him over the weekend with the engine at The Marcle Steam Rally. We have done this a few times now and had a good weekend each year.
The weekend turned out to not go quite to plan. British summer time wasn't on our side and due to the rally field being a few feet deep in mud and still raining the engines were told to stay away. So instead on the Saturday which was a bit brighter and not much rain we steamed her up anyway. Well how could you leave this beautiful Lady under sheets, she would of thought she had been stood up by us all!!!
Gentle gaint on the road
This is a Burrell showmans engine "Lady Pride of England" built in Thetford, Norfolk in 1904, reg number BD5257 and her number is 2625. She used to live in our village but now she has moved further up the country but is still with the same family.
This was us out in the Worcestershire country side, enjoying the ride.
Chuffing along
Hanging on
My very lucky husband steering and our two sons riding in the coal bunker on the back.
Filling the lane
And this was one of the wider roads we went on.
There is a lady in the road
Footplate view
This is what you can see while up on the footplate, as you can see the view out to the front of the engine isn't that clear. The driver stands on the right with his controls which are to make the engine stop and go. He also puts the coal on the fire usually while on the move. The steersman or woman stands on the left and tries to keep the 16 tons of engine on the road and not in the ditch.
Big and small
It was our youngest son's birthday over the weekend and he was given the model engine by his Grandad which he carried around with him all weekend, it even went to bed with him!
Picture perfect
What could of been better sitting with a glass of wine watching her just gentle generating and my boys enjoying every second of it.
Back in the 1930s
While we were parked outside the pub I thought I would do a couple of black and white photos which turned out quite well.
Lady from the right
And from the front
Jack's go
While I put my camara down for a minute my son Jack (12) took a couple of snaps and I really like this one, so thanks Jack and I hope you don't mind me putting it on my web site.